Back in 2018 when Marys River Grange’s historic building needed a new roof, the membership established Amazing Grange Day as a new fundraiser to boost the bottom line.
Now in its sixth year — there was no event in 2020 because of the pandemic — Amazing Grange Day has become one of the organization’s biggest fundraisers. It’s coming up Saturday from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at Marys River Grange Hall
Mike Terry, who was installed as Chapter 685’s president in January, described the event as the grange’s annual rummage sale and pie auction that brings in money to help support its building fund.
“We have our historic Grange Hall built in the 1930s with our addendum Junior Hall built in the 1950s and it takes a decent amount of upkeep and renovation,” Terry said. “We’ve been making some progress on our Junior Hall remodel … we are about halfway through that at the moment.”
Terry said a demolition project on the Junior Hall was completed early this summer with everything removed down to the studs.
“So far we’ve been able to complete all the physical exterior portions — all the siding, we got the electrical in, we installed new French doors to our back lawn with new windows as well,” he said.
The earlier version of the Junior Hall featured windows but those had been boarded up years ago.
“We’ve restored beautiful new windows with a lot of natural light coming in,” he said. “Our next phase will be to start on the interior work and we’ll be putting in insulation and putting up all of the sheetrock. We’re expecting to finish the remodel by about mid to late September or so.”
Marys River Grange Hall has become a popular spot for events in town. As such, keeping the building in top shape is a priority.
“This fundraiser will not only go towards helping to create income for that remodel but also for general upkeep of the hall so we can continue to hold our country dances, yoga, any concerts and other fundraisers both for ourselves and for our charitable causes,” Terry said.
Amazing Grange Day has become known for its amazing pies and that will likely be the case again this year.
“We’re currently at approximately 12 to 15 pies that we’ll be in a silent auction to sell off,” Terry said. “However, we do have the option to buy immediately for any pies set at $50, so rather than go through the silent pie auction, if you see a pie that you say ‘that looks delicious, I want it right now,’ you can purchase it right then and there.”
Members of the community who want to contribute items to the rummage sale are asked to reach out to Terry via phone (541-829-2907) or email (marysrivergrange@gmail.com).
“We can accept items early in the morning (Saturday),” he said. “We’ll be setting up for the event at about 8 o’clock and will be opening to the public at 9. … I can arrange for a separate drop-off, however. We are just looking for nice, quality sellable items.”
Marys River Grange is up to 131 members, Terry said, which makes it the second-largest in the state. Just this year, Sonny Hays-Eberts took over as the State Grange’s president, succeeding Jay Sexton, another Philomath resident.
Terry, who is 25 years old, said it’s been a bit of a trepidatious experience so far serving in the local chapter’s lead role.
“It’s been quite the journey for me but I’ve loved everything that our members have been able to do and we’re on a pretty good road to success right now,” he said.
The organization’s historic building is located at 24707 Grange Hall Road.
